Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Goodbye, Uncle Rex

Rex Tillerson is out as Secretary of State. Donald Trump unexpectedly fired him after rumors of Tillerson's departure kept persisting even as the Secretary of State himself vowed to stay on for as long as he could.  Which wasn't very long.
Out most avuncular Secretary of State since Dean Acheson did his best to reassure allies of American commitment to global stability - and he even tried to keep America in international accords like the Paris Agreement and the Iran deal - and he was pretty much the only thing standing between Trump and total chaos (except for Defense Secretary James Mattis).  Now what can we do?  Pray.  Because nothing is going to stop Trump from pursuing his own dangerous, risky foreign policy and making the sort of rash decisions that Tillerson always tried to keep him from going through with.   Trump isn't going to have anyone holding him back.     
CIA Director Mike Pompeo is expected to replace him, and he's supposed to be simpatico with rump on foreign affairs.  The one good thing about this is that Pompeo has the same important qualification for the job of Secretary of State that Tillerson had - he's not John Bolton.
But then, Pompeo probably got the job because, unlike Bolton, he doesn't have an unsightly, camera-unfriendly mustache.
Because some guys just look all wrong with a mustache.
Go ask Alice. :-O   

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